As far as I
could tell there was no prayer in today’s official swearing-in. Tomorrow there will be both an invocation and
a benediction. The invocation, or
opening prayer, will be given not by a member of the clergy but by Myrlie
Evers-Williams who was the widow of Medgar Evers, the civil-rights leader whose
1963 murder in Jackson Mississippi became part of the plot to the popular
novel, The Help, by Kathryn
Stockett. The Benediction will be given
by the Reverend Luis Leon, Rector of the Episcopal Church of Saint John, Lafayette
Square—the so-called “Church of the Presidents” just across Lafayette Square
from the White House. The Obamas are not regular Church attenders as were the
Clintons and the Carters though they do attend more often than the Reagans or
even the Bushes. Saint John’s tends to
be the default Church more often chosen than other houses of worship. Other than a funeral the President has not
opted to worship in a Catholic Church since becoming President but then, since
he would not be welcome at Holy Communion, I can understand why.
Supposedly
the President wanted the opening prayer to be led by someone other than a
member of the clergy and thus Mrs. Evers-Williams was invited. Good choice by the way. Initially the
Reverend Louie Giglio, pastor of Atlanta’s Passion City Church had been invited
to give the closing prayer, but when some anti-gay remarks were discovered in a
twenty-year old sermon, Dr. Leon was named to replace him. Now, both Luis Leon and Louie Giglio should
be Catholic names—that is a topic for some future blogs but right now we will
let it pass.
All this
indicates, I believe, that despite their occasional episodes of public worship,
President Obama and his family represent the casual approach towards Christian
fellowship that is becoming more and more common in our culture. This is not a criticism, just an
observation. The First Family does not
currently have a church membership.
Worship seems to be something that they do “when they need it” and
somewhat like the modern hybrid cars who make less frequent trips to the gas station
than our old traditional gas-guzzlers, modern Americans—like the Obamas—“fill ‘er
up” somewhat infrequently, having other sources of energy. Of course this contemporary piety (or lack
thereof) is based on the idea that worship is something we do for spiritual
energy rather than a duty we have towards our Creator. It is all part of the radical subjectivism
that is pac-manning our “culture.” On the other hand, Vice-President Biden and
his wife are, I understand, faithful Mass-goers to the annoyance of the
Pharisee party in the Catholic Church and the bewilderment of most
fellow-liberals who don’t quite know what to make of believing Catholics. But then Jefferson and Franklin admired the
Carrolls but were bewildered by their attachment to our anti-Enlightenment
faith.
Where do we
go with this? Nowhere in
particular. Just read the signs of the
times. Protestant clergy with name like
Luis Leon and Louie Giglio; Catholic Chief-Justices swearing in thoroughly
secularized Presidents; Liberal Democrats attending Mass without qualms of
conscience; laity replacing clergy in leading prayer; public prayer being
reduced to the inoffensive and politically correct; and what else might I be
missing? It is a new world and we have
no choice but to adapt to it and devise a thoroughly new strategy of
evangelizing in this post-Christian culture.
Don’t waste your time crying over spilt holy water—the time for that is
past. This is the time to ask the Holy
Spirit’s Guidance on how to bring the Gospel alive in this brave new but vapid world.
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